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WikiWords:How to edit a page
WikiWords is a Wiki, which means that anyone can easily edit any unprotected article and have those changes posted immediately to that page. Editing a Wiki page is very easy. Simply click on the "edit this page" tab at the top (or the edit link on the right or bottom) of a Wiki page. This will bring you to a page with a text box containing the editable text of that page. If you just want to experiment, please do so in the sandbox instead of on other pages. Alternatively, you can press the " " button instead of actually saving the page. You should write a short edit summary in the small field below the edit-box. You may use shorthand to describe your changes, as described in the legend, and when you have finished, press preview to see how your changes will look. You can also see what changes you have made in comparison to the previous version by pressing the Show changes button. If you're happy with what you see, then press "Save" and your changes will be immediately applied to the article. Don't "sign" edits you make to regular articles (the software keeps track of who makes every change). You can also click on the "Discussion" tab to see the corresponding talk page, which contains comments about the page from other WikiWords users. Click on the "+'" tab to add a new section, or edit the page in the same way as an article page. When editing talk pages, please sign your change, see WikiWords:Sign your posts on talk pages. Tips on editing WikiWords articles Always use a "neutral point of view", as WikiWords is not a place to promote points of view. Write as if the information is a non-judgmental news article. Cite your sources so others can check and extend your work. Please help by researching online and print resources to find references for the article you are working on, then cite them in proper form, and consider in-text citation for contentious facts. There is no consensus on the best way to do that, but anything is better than nothing. You can either use in-text citation in academic form such as (Example, 2004, pp 22-23) or as a superscript(1) to a footnote that you place at the end of an article. After making a new page, it's a good idea to: *use ''What links here (with your page displayed) to check the articles that already link to it, and make sure that they are all expecting the same meaning that you have supplied; and *use the Search button to search WikiWords for your topic title—and possible variants—to find articles that mention it, and make links from them if appropriate. Minor edits See also WikiWords:Minor edit When editing a page, a logged-in user can mark that edit as being "minor." Minor edits generally mean spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearrangement of text. It is possible to hide minor edits when viewing WikiWords:Recent Changes. Marking a significant change as a minor edit is considered bad behavior, and even more so if it involves the deletion of some text. If one has accidentally marked an edit as minor, the person should edit the source once more, mark it major (or, rather, ensure that the check-box for "This is a minor edit" is not checked), and, in the summary, state that the previous change was a major one. Major edits All editors are encouraged to be bold, but there are several things that a user can do to ensure that major edits are performed smoothly. Before engaging in a major edit, consider discussing proposed changes on the article discussion/talk page. Once the edit has been completed, the inclusion of an edit summary will assist in documenting the changes. These steps will all help to ensure that major edits are well received by the WikiWords community. Wiki markup The '''wiki markup is the syntax system you can use to format a WikiWords page. In the left column of the table below, you can see what effects are possible. In the right column, you can see how those effects were achieved. In other words, to make text look like it looks in the left column, type it in the format you see in the right column. You may want to keep this page open in a separate browser window for reference, or take a screen-shot of it. If you want to try out things without danger of doing any harm, you can do so in the Sandbox. Try opening the Sandbox in a separate window or tab and keeping this page open for reference. See the this Wikipedia page for a large table of Wiki markup rules. Table of contents At the current status of the wiki markup language, having at least four headers on a page triggers the TOC to appear in front of the first header (or after introductory sections). Putting __TOC__ anywhere forces the TOC to appear at that point (instead of just before the first header). Putting anywhere forces the TOC to disappear. See also WikiWords:Section. Variables (See also ) NUMBEROFARTICLES is the number of pages in the main namespace which contain a link and are not a redirect--in other words, it is the number of articles, stubs containing a link, and disambiguation pages. CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN is the genitive (possessive) grammatical form of the month name, as used in some languages; CURRENTMONTHNAME is the nominative (subject) form, as usually seen in English. In languages where it makes a difference, you can use constructs like to convert a word from the nominative case to some other case. For example, }} means the same as . Templates The MediaWiki software used by WikiWords has support for templates. This means standardized text chunks (such as boilerplate text) can be inserted into articles. For example, typing will appear as "This article is a stub. You can help WikiWords by expanding it." when the page is saved. See WikiWords:Template messages for the complete list. Other commonly used templates are: for disambiguation pages, for spoiler warnings and like an article stub but for a section. There are many subject-specific stubs. Hiding the edit links Insert __NOEDITSECTION__ into the document to suppress the edit links that appear next to every section header. More information on editing wiki pages You may also want to learn about: * * Informal tips on contributing to WikiWords * Editing tasks in general at the WikiWords:Editing FAQ * Why not to rename pages boldly, at WikiWords:How to rename (move) a page * Preferred layout of your article, at Guide to Layout (see also WikiWords:Boilerplate text) * Style conventions in the WikiWords:Manual of Style * An article with annotations pointing out common WikiWords style and layout issues, at WikiWords:Annotated article * General policies in WikiWords:Policies and guidelines * WikiWords:Naming conventions for how to name articles themselves * Help on editing very large articles * Wikia:MediaWiki * WikiWords:Cleanup * Finally, for a list of articles about editing WikiWords consult WikiWords:Style and How-to Directory.